Inappropriate Behavior
by Firecadet
Summary: Anakin Skywalker's marriage to Padmé Amidala is discovered by Obi-wan. Will he tell the order, or keep the marriage a secret? And what of Chancellor Palpatine; will he use the opportunity to turn Anakin to his own ends? Some extremely light BDSM, Anakin/Padme. AU. Sequel to my previous story Temple Life. Set between Episodes II and III, in about 20.3BBY
1. Chapter 1

Inappropriate behaviour

Anakin Skywalker's marriage to Padmé Amidala is discovered by obi-wan. Will he tell the order, or keep the marriage a secret? And what of Chancellor Palpatine; will he use the opportunity to turn Anakin to his own ends?

_Kriff, Anakin, what _have _you done?_ Obi-wan thought as he leant back from the data terminal, where, during a routine search on his Padawan, he had made a discovery that could end Anakin's career as a Jedi, while costing Padmé her seat.

_You didn't just have a brief intimate relationship with her. Even Yoda could understand that, at your ages. No, you went and married her._

He would have to confront them both about it. But he should have known.

Their secret smiles should have been enough, as should the slight blush on Padmé's face when they met. The fact that Anakin's robes were embroidered with his name in a Nabooan embroidery style, to a Jedi with his investigative training, should have been sufficient grounds to at least confront Anakin.

_I thought it was just a minor flirtation, a brief, trauma-based relationship,_ he realised.

_That the signals indicated that. I should have known better. I should have realised something was going on when both of them started wearing rings, the classic symbols of marriage, at the same time. The fact you can never find Anakin when you need him should have confirmed it. That Padmé sometimes meets up with a Mr Par Credo should have started alarm bells ringing_. _Par Credo. It's an anagram for Podracer. Sithspit, Anakin, why are you doing this to me?_

Tearing himself away from the console, he sprinted for the temple hanger bay, knowing that he needed to confront Anakin as soon as he could, simply to get his explanation.

~0~

As Anakin gently laid Padmé back on the bed in the small, cheap, traveller's lodge they used for their liaisons', he suddenly stiffened, before stepping out of the window, fortunately fully clothed.

Unfortunately, Obi-wan was waiting for him at the bottom.

"Anakin Skywalker!" his master yelled. "I think I know exactly who I would find in that room…"

_Oh, sithspit. _Anakin thought as he said that_. He knows._

"It's not a…" he quickly broke in, before pausing as Obi-wan produced a small square of flimsiplast. "Before you deny anything, Anakin, I would suggest you read your _marriage_ certificate." Obi-wan broke off briefly, waving the sheet at him. "Do you have _any _idea how much trouble you are in? The council will have your saber for sure! This is worse than the time you manacled your Padawan to her bed and nearly killed her with an injector droid."

"That was an accident!" Anakin screamed at his former master.

"Could it have been predicted? Were you with Padmé at the time?" Obi-Wan asked, the calm voice masking the edge of the anger he felt. "They would have had your saber if you'd returned ten minutes later, and found her dead from hypothermia."

"Yes, I guess I could have predicted it would happen." Anakin answered, falling into the trap.

"Then it was not an accident. Accidents are things you _couldn't_ have predicted, Anakin."

Mastering his temper, Anakin forced his hand away from his saber, and asked; "Shall we talk about thing in the suite, where people can't see two Jedi having an argument?" He knew that, by now, Padmé would be long gone.

"Lead on." Obi-Wan replied, suddenly conscious of the fact that they could end up on the holonews if they carried on outside the building, and that Yoda was a keen viewer of the galactic 24 standard hour news channel.

Inside the suite, Padmé had managed to get comfortable, despite her nakedness, and the fact her hands were pinned together behind her with fiberbinders she had 'borrowed' from the security locker in her office with the aid of R2-D2 the previous evening, at Anakin's suggestion as to a discrete source of quickly removable bindings..

With a lot of squirming, she had successfully rolled onto her front, but was alarmed at the two raised voices she could hear. It sounded like Anakin had felt Obi-Wan coming, and that was why he had skedaddled. He had also forgotten to untie her.

Abruptly, she heard two pairs of steps coming along the hallway, and, from a hostage rescue incident, where she had been the hostage; she recognised the steps as belonging to Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Realising Anakin had convinced his master to return to the room, forgetting her bindings, she began to squirm around, determined to preserve her decency. By holding the bed-covers in her teeth, she managed to pull it over her head just as Anakin and Obi-Wan opened the door to enter the room.

Obi-Wan was not impressed.

"Anakin!" he snapped; "why is the senator tied up on the bed?"

"Ah. It was her idea…"

"So you left her up her tied up, while you tried to sneak off."

"I forgot the binders."

"Forgot?"

"It was the first time…" he tailed off, blushing.

"I see."

"Master…" Anakin began

"There is no need to tell the council about this?" Obi-Wan completed.

"I don't think there is."

"You are in breach of one of the most fundamental rules of the Jedi order. You have a clearly broken the rule on emotional detachments, and marriage is nearly always grounds for expulsion."

"And what about Satine Kryze?" Anakin asked his former master. "Your relationship with her did not break the code?"

"My relationship with her, Anakin Skywalker, is none of your kriffing business."

"I see." Anakin replied. "You are allowed to love someone, but I'm not?"

"This has gone a damn sight further than feelings of affection, Anakin." Obi-wan retorted. "You and the senator are sleeping together regularly, if the hotel guest register is anything to go by. What happens if she gets pregnant? Will you admit being the father?"

"I'll make that jump when and if it come to it, master." Anakin replied, before pulling a small vibroblade from his belt gripping it with his thumb over the blade.

Obi-wan recoiled slightly, his hand going to his lightsaber, expecting Anakin to come at him with the blade.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N **Sorry about the state of chapter one. This was an old idea dusted off from a rarely opened folder, and I hadn't proofed it. I've now made some revisions.

Suddenly, Anakin winked at him, before flipping the blade into a grip more suited for vegetables than thoracic insertion, before leaning down and slipping the blade through the binders, not bothering to power up the weapon. _Force, Anakin._ Obi-Wan thought._ What in the dark side are you doing with a kriffing knife like that?_ He recognised the weapon as a standard GAR issue fighting knife, the same as would have been issued to every clone trooper out there.

"I don't suppose, Master, that you could at least give my wife the chance to get changed in private." Anakin said, holding his body deliberately between Padmé and Obi-Wan, and nodding towards the door.

"Of course, Anakin." His former master replied, before opening the door and allowing Anakin to lead him through it.

Once the door was safely shut, Obi-Wan resumed the offensive.

"How long has this been going on?" he hissed, gesturing to the closed door as an emphasis.

"Err…" Anakin groaned. "More than two years."

"Since Geonosis, in other words." His master clarified, his low, calm voice driving home the depth of his anger. "You were her bodyguard, for the Force's sake. You were supposed to protect her, not fall in love with her."

"We fell in love with each other." Anakin replied, his voice rising. "IS that truly wrong?"

"It is when you break your vows, Anakin. You swore to uphold the code. You swore it."

"I am upholding the code, _master._ The code says that there is no passion, only serenity."

"It also says there is no emotion, only peace, Anakin." Obi-Wan said, his voice hardening. "What you have is emotion…"

"And emotion leads to the dark side." Anakin said, his voice growing more anguished, and angry.

"Exactly. You are risking the entire fate of the galaxy for the sake of your emotions, Anakin."

"And what are you going to do about it, Master?"

"IF you will not admit it yourself, I will tell the council, and let them decide."

"No." Anakin said, suddenly seeming to suddenly swell. "You won't. You care too much."

"I will do my _duty_, Anakin. My duty to you, the Order and the Republic." He declared, anguished at the choice. "I have a duty to turn you in."

~0~

As he glared at his former master, Anakin felt his hand twitch towards his lightsaber. Then his index finger touched the hilt, and suddenly saw himself fly at his master, roaring in fury. As he charged, Obi-Wan hurled him backwards with the force, sending him smashing through the thin wall behind him, and his lightsaber, still in his hand, slicing through Padmé's neck, before he crashed through the window, plummeting into the traffic. Then his vision cleared, and he saw his master standing before him once more, and he understood the will of the force.

"Don't bother, master." He said, feeling the sheer weight of his fate bearing down on him. "I will tell them myself."

Through the force, Anakin felt his master's shock at the sudden change of course and equally sudden calm.

"I saw what would happen if I gave in, master." He stated, before turning and walking towards the hotel entrance, leaving his master totally confused.

~0~

From her room, Padmé had heard the entire dispute, and had heard Anakin's voice rising. Fearing for both of them, she had been just about to exit the room, which would have brought her out to their right, when suddenly, both voices stopped, and Anakin suddenly said, "I'll turn myself in." the realisation he was about to sacrifice his future just to be with her, drove home the certain knowledge of what having apparently seduced and corrupted the hero with no fear would do to her poll ratings. It would be scattered throughout the sludgenews channels and slapped over the less sensational holo-tabloids and, in all likelihood, even HNN itself would likely carry the story across the galaxy.

She knew, however, that both of them had known the risk they were taking, and had accepted them. They were adults, however childish Anakin might often be about things, even to the extent of using his Jedi credentials to avoid fines for flying his airspeeder like it was his starfighter in heavy traffic.

Then the door opened, and Obi-Wan wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her towards him and away from the window.

"Don't, milady." He said, his voice kind and supportive. "We have some _very_ interesting precedents."

"How do you mean?" she asked, realising why he had come back into the room.

"Confession is a virtue. He will be dealt with compassionately. Every Jedi will do something like this, at some point. He isn't the first."

"Even you, Obi-Wan?"

"Even me. My master saw to it I knew what love felt like at a physical level when I was sixteen. Something of a rite of passage, although I'd love to know how he got the credits through the system unseen."

"Did you enjoy it?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"I was sixteen." He replied.

"And afterwards?"

"I loved a woman much like you, senator. She loved me."

"And?" Padmé asked, feeling the answer.

"She was killed. She died in my arms." And then, outside of the order, and away from anyone's judgement, Obi-Wan finally gave into his feelings, and just started to sob, silently, his shoulders racked by the suppressed emotion. "She died because of me. To hurt me."

"Could you have saved her?" Padmé asked, shaken by the sudden outburst.

"No." he said. "I couldn't. Our love saved her for longer than she would have lived otherwise."

"Then remember that." Padmé said, before just holding him, supporting his body as Obi-Wan Kenobi finally gave in to his emotions, for the first time since before the clone wars had begun.


	3. Chapter 3

When he arrived at the hotel's speeder park, Anakin stopped, looking at the new, expensive and extremely powerful airspeeder Padmé had brought for him on his last birthday, which had fallen during a brief lull in the conflict. Everyone else in the order had assumed he'd brought it for himself when it appeared. Despite the sudden calm his vision had brought him, he knew he'd still be flying mad, and that could spell disaster for his speeder. It had been bad enough when his blasted padawan had decided to borrow it, but he didn't want to risk it sustaining additional damage, and so instead, decided to walk.

It had been a very long time since he had last walked around Coruscant. The streets were as full of life as he remembered, but there was a tension in the air. People were glancing at the sky, then keeping walking.

Anakin knew why.

Three weeks earlier, a separatist Q-Ship, disguised as a republic fleet support ship, had dropped three hundred vulture droids into the atmosphere and onto the planet below. Hundreds had died when the craft ripped through the traffic lanes, en route to the Jedi Temple. Master Yoda had immediately ordered every Jedi knight with a starfighter in the temple to scramble, and every Jedi without a fighter to stand to.

When the droids arrived, they were met by just one hundred and fifty Jedi starfighters. The first head to head pass had reduced that number by twelve, but the droids had lost nearly two hundred craft in the same run, before the incredibly agile starfighters had dropped in on the droids tails, and annihilated them, sending the burning debris spraying all over the temple entryway and the structure itself.

The Q-ship had been destroyed shortly after the final droid fell by one of the four Venator star destroyers making up the home fleet.

He had personally downed five droid fighters in the engagement, but had been shocked by the trail of destruction the fighters had cut through the streets, he could vividly remember the blown out viewports and the burning wreckage he'd seen that day, and the shredded fabric still flying from some of those viewports.

His memories were suddenly brought to a halt when he felt a ball of hostile intent closing in behind him.

Without thinking, he spun around.

The being sneaking up behind him was a small, relatively emaciated Nautolan brandishing a domestic vibroblade, the sort a chef might use to carve a waterfowl or nerf into bitesize portions.

"Back off." Anakin commanded the figure, using the same tone he might have to issue a rare order to his padawan.

Instead, the figure slashed the knife at him, aiming for the Jedi's chest.

With a move straight out of padawan-level self-defence, Anakin caught the knife hand just below the wrist, before twisting it up over his head and throwing the weapons wielder over his hip, sending the blade clattering away in the opposite direction to the knifeman.

Before the man could rise, Anakin pinned him to the floor with the force, before placing a large, empty catering bin over him, and walked off.

~0~

After several minutes, Obi-Wan recovered his composure slightly, and managed to stop the flow of tears.

"You must think me strange, senator." He said, feeling the continued pressure of her arm over his shoulders.

"Why? Are emotions against the Jedi way?" she asked, teasingly.

"There is no emotion, there is peace." He quoted, wishing he actually believed the words. "We are taught emotion leads to anger, and anger leads to the dark side."

"Sometimes it does." Padmé replied. "But is it wrong to be angry at the senate for sending the ship your brother crewed on into the path of a battlefleet, for example, or to blame them for the taxes being levied to continue this war."

"Are those your emotions?" obi-wan asked, curious.

"No. they are the emotions of those from my sector, who I have met at my surgeries recently. I represent them. Something many of my colleagues seem to have forgotten lately."

"How do you mean?"

"They are more concerned with riding the gravy train to power than with their constituents' thoughts."

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." Obi-Wan said. "Sometimes, I see the truth in that." His voice was almost mournful. "I serve the republic, but sometimes, I don't truly know that republic's real intentions."

"I know some people." Padmé said. "They don't trust the senate anymore."

"Should I be hearing this?" the Jedi master asked, cautious. "If you talk treason to me, I have no choice under my oath than to report it." He stated.

"This is no treason, Master Kenobi." She said, the clarity of her thoughts striking him. "This is democracy, and patriotism. There are a group of us who believe the chancellor is going too far, and that the powers he gathers to himself are not for the republic's sake, but his own."

Obi-Wan looked at her, stunned. He had always considered the chancellor to be out for power, but democratic power.

"In his private chambers, there is a holotransceiver. We put a tap into it the last time it was up for maintenance. It is collected once a week by a cleaning droid. This is what we found on the last datachip." She told him, holding out a holopad. In her hand, a six inch tall figure he recognised all too well sprang to life. "My Apprentice." He said. "Your orders are to proceed to the Chandrola system, and relieve the republic of its burden. I have ordered the withdrawal of all but a platoon of clones and two frigates from the system for a major push against our forces at Cato Neimoidia. Dispatch Invisible Hand and her battlegroup to the system, and both wings can be crushed with ease."

Obi-wan went pale. Two days earlier, Anakin and his fleet group had responded to an urgent distress call from the Chandrola system, and driven away a separatist fleet, led by the Invisible Hand, while the majority of the garrison fleet was being destroyed in an ambush over Cato Neimoidia.

"That was sent from the chancellor's office?" he spluttered.

"Yes." Padmé replied. "He is orchestrating this war."


	4. Chapter 4

When Anakin arrived outside of the council chamber, the doors were shut and a squad of guardians formed a phalanx outside the doors, lightsabers drawn but not lit, sending a unsubtle message that the Council within were staging a top-secret meeting, likely on national security matters.

To his surprise the master leading the detachment raised a hand to his earbud when he saw Anakin, and said something too low for Anakin to hear before gesturing him forward, and opening the door for him.

Inside he saw Padme standing before the council, with Obi-Wan standing next to her. The masters' collective attention was focused on a small holoprojector which featured a still, but highly recognisable, image of galactic enemy number one, Darth Sidious.

Then Master Windu hit the play button.

"My Apprentice." Darth Sidious said. "Your orders are to proceed to the Chandrola system, and relieve the republic of its burden. I have ordered the withdrawal of all but a platoon of clones and two frigates from the system for a major push against our forces at Cato Neimoidia. Dispatch Invisible Hand and her battlegroup to the system, and both wings can be crushed with ease."

"Where did that come from?" Anakin asked, confused by the image. He remembered all too well the frantic battle he'd dropped his forces into to save the planet, and how many casualties they'd taken doing so.

"That recording came from a wiretap one of the senator's friends installed on a secure holotransmitter in the supreme Chancellor's private office." Obi–Wan replied, his voice pained. "Much as I deplore private espionage, I think in this case it has exposed high treason of the most heinous kind. The Senate Security Council is meeting in the main antechamber, debating order 65, and what order must be transmitted to enact it."

"Order 65?" Anakin asked. "I've never heard of that."

"Very few people have." His old master replied. "It requires and enables the Republic military to remove the supreme Chancellor. It was intended for mental breakdown or other mental health related reasons for removal, not outright treason."

"How long will it take them to pass it?" Anakin asked.

"They voted on it five minutes ago." Obi-Wan said. "It was passed unanimously, after they viewed that recording. The council are currently debating implementation, to be precise how many Jedi to send in order to effect the Chancellor's removal. Despite your friendship with the chancellor, your name is at the top of the list," he said, smiling wryly "as is mine. We will be accompanying Master Windu, Master Yoda and Master Drallig." When he processed the list of names, Anakin winced. The listed masters were, along with him, the Order's five best lightsaber duellists, and were all extremely strong in the Force to boot. The council was obviously rather serious about the expedition, which suggests they had absolutely no intention of giving the Sith the slightest chance of getting away all or pulling off a coup. "The Security Council has also officially impeached the supreme Chancellor, and removed him from the office of commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, which prevents him issuing a rather interesting emergency order that would instruct the clones to exterminate us on every battlefront in the Galaxy."

"Force," Anakin swore. "How did he get that past us?"

"He simply built into the clones order manual, directly below the power allowed them to remove him, instead. Somehow we overlooked it."

"I hope the council is currently going through the entire manual after that." Anakin said, before patting his old master on the back. "Come on master," he said "let's go bag ourselves a Sith Lord."

~0~

The strike team crammed itself into a LAAT for the flight, with Ahsoka and Master Drallig's padawan, Serra Keto taking the controls of the gunship for the flight, and to provide backup in the unlikely event it was needed.

With its doors closed for security and safety, the gunship's flight to the traffic lanes was uneventful, and within five minutes the craft was approaching the Senate security perimeter. As soon as the gunship arrived a flight of clone piloted V–wing interceptors dropped in behind it, although they didn't paint the craft with a target lock, the intention of the group was clear. Abruptly however the fighters peeled off, dropping into an escort formation around the gunship pilot of the lead aircraft gesturing for the gunship to proceed directly to the Senate tower.

Once the craft was directly outside the Chancellor's office, Ahsoka didn't waste any time bringing one of the wing mounted turrets around to bear on the Chancellor's office window, as Serra brought the craft to bear broadside on the building opening the port door at the same time.

A three second burst later, the window had fallen out its mounting and the five members of the strike team force-leapt as one into the office, landing with their lightsabers lit.

"Supreme chancellor Palpatine, under arrest by order of the security council, you are."

Yoda told the moderately surprised looking man sitting at the desk in the centre of the room.

"Master Yoda, what a pleasant surprise." The Chancellor said, appearing apparently unruffled by the removal of his office window and the sudden arrival of five angry looking Jedi in his office. "Can I ask what grounds Security Council has given you to remove me."

Obi-Wan removed a portable holo-transmitter from his tunic, and pressed the play button.

Chancellor watched the six inch high representation of himself silently, his hands clasped in front of him damning recording played itself out.

"I wish Fett had gotten her before the war started." He hissed, before one of the statues on his desk glowed, then exploded in a crimson flash. Suddenly, he threw himself over the desk, aiming at master Yoda with a crimson lightsaber in his hand. The aged Jedi master simply twisted aside allowing the blade to miss him by inches before all five Jedi suddenly found themselves fighting ferociously for survival.

Despite the suddenness of the attack, Mace Windu pressed forward, his purple lightsaber humming a counterpoint to the Chancellor's crimson blade as he pushed him back their lightsabers clashing at a speed only the most experienced of duellists could have followed, combining strokes and cuts in an organic fraction that astonished even the Jedi Temple lightsaber master as he and Obi-Wan cut around the left side of the ferocious fight looking to intervene.

Eventually the Chancellor overextended one stroke just a fraction of an inch, and Mace Windows lightsaber sheered through the emitter of his own cutting off the crimson blade, before the Jedi master's follow-through decapitated the Chancellor, sending his headless body toppling to the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

Just after the Chancellor's headless body had landed, there was an explosion from the office door and twenty clone commandos stormed into the room, their blasters raised, although the weapons quickly snapped up towards the ceiling when they saw the five Jedi standing over the Chancellor's body. Mace Windu deactivated his saber, before handing it to Yoda, and raising his hands.

"I killed the supreme Chancellor, and I demand you arrest me to stand trial for it." He said, stepping towards them and holding out his hands to be cuffed.

The clones glanced at each other, before the one who had led the rest of the team into the room stepped forwards. "Master Windu," he said, "there is not a man alive who would fault you for this, least of all anyone eligible to sit on the jury in your trial."

"Nevertheless," he said. "I just cut down the supreme Chancellor, it is my duty and the Republic's right for me to stand trial so that my actions can be decided upon by the courts."

With great reluctance the clone produced a pair of binders from one of his many belt pouches, and fastened around the Jedi master's wrists. "With extreme reluctance, it is my duty to inform you that you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence against you." He said, before gesturing two of the other commandos forwards. "Take this man to the police station." he said. "And make sure he gets a good lawyer."

Both the clones flashed a mandolorian salute to their commander, before leading the Jedi master away.

"You've got a good man there." The clone commander said. "Alright boys, two of you get that lump of meat and get it out of here." He said gesturing towards the front rank of the group.

"Nearest trash compactor?" One of them asked. "Or do you want us to take it down to the morgue."

"The duty Pathologist will probably want to do a report on it." The clone commander replied, before the group stood aside to allow the two volunteers to remove the body. "Fixer, get the head and go with them."

"Sir." The commando in green armour replied, before gathering up the former Chancellor's head and following the two body bearers back towards the turbolift.

Once the clones had departed, Ahsoka brought the gunship closer in, and extended a small access ramp, allowing the four remaining Jedi back across without having to jump.

Once the doors were closed, and the vehicle was on the return leg of the flight Yoda turned to Anakin. ""I believe, something to discuss, have we, young Skywalker." The aged master said, his eyes twinkling. "Reported disturbing things about your relationship with the senator, master Kenobi has. Sleeping together he believes you to be."

Anakin blushed at the bluntness of the question, before he managed to put together a reply. "He is correct master." He replied unable to look at the aged Jedi master. "I know we are in breach of the code."

"Indeed young Skywalker, you are, breaching the code. Yes, hmmm." Yoda replied. What to do about, the question is."

"If you would let me stay in the order, then that is all I would desire." Anakin said, knowing that the Jedi master was unlikely to be so lenient.

"You ask is that all. Hmmmm. Little to ask, that is. Do you continue your relationship want to?"

"If it would be possible, master." Anakin replied.

"Without your relationship the chancellor's betrayal would have been brought to our attention not." Yoda replied. "The least we can do is it, for of you both."

"Thank you, master." Anakin replied, without any of the sarcasm that might normally been built into his tone at making such a statement.

"Long overdue for the order to review its policy on marriage anyway, it is. Yes, hmmm." Yoda said. "Cost us many of our best, it has, to feel compassion those most able." He paused, then continued "And congratulations Anakin, your upcoming blessing on."

"What blessing would that to be, master?" Anakin asked, suddenly confused.

"Use the force Anakin, you must. Then find out for yourself, you will." The Jedi master replied, his pleasure giving the cryptic clue clear in the Force.

When the shuttle touched down, back in the Temple docking bay, a crowd gathered to greet the returning heroes. As Anakin stepped off the shuttle, Padme grabbed him in a bear hug, pulling in place and kissing him without regard for any witnesses.

As she held him, Anakin permeated the surrounding area with the force trying to deduce the meaning behind master Yoda's comment.

He found it.


	6. Chapter 6

A week after the man's death, the focus of the entire galaxy was focused on the single room on coruscant in which Jedi Master Mace Windu was standing trial, at his own insistence, for the murder of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

The highlights so far had included recordings of dozens of sets of orders, sent from his office and occasionally his personal comlink, to both Count Dooku and General Grevious, informing them of republic manoeuvres, operations and targets. Somehow, they'd all been logged into hidden memory sectors in the devices, and were now being used to blow the deceased's plans and true motives wide open. The judge had made several attempts during the defence case and the prosecution case to throw the case into the maw, but each time, the defendant's stubbornness and desire to face any justice had prevailed. Finally, both cases had been presented, and it was time for the jury to decide. They didn't leave the box. The foreman stood up after about ten seconds had passed, and said: "We have reached a verdict."

"Very well." The judge, a human who looked like a prizefighter said. "On the charge of the willful murder of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?"

"Not guilty, My Lord."

"On the alternative charge of the manslaughter of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?"

"Not guilty, my lord."

"On the third charge, use of unreasonable force leading to the death of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?"

"Not guilty, my Lord."

"On the final charge, Careless use of a lightsaber in a public place, leading to a accidental decapitation, do you find the defendant... Force's sake, master windu, just accept that you aren't guilty and go, before I convict you of contempt of court."

"Yes, my lord." Mace replied, before bowing to the court and leaving.

~0~

"I love you, angel." Anakin said, holding his wife to him, as they watched the media circus analyse Mace Windu's trial in anal retentive detail, while he was busy regarding the modest bump on her abdomen, before placing a hand on it with almost religious reverence.

"I love you too." She replied, snuggling closer to him. "I wish we'd been able to invite everyone to our wedding the first time.

"We can this time." He said, smiling roguishly. "Considering we're marrying on the Senate floor, with the ceremony conducted by master Yoda himself, I think we won't have to worry about the guest list being too short to fit everyone in."

"How was your night on the town?" She asked, jokingly, remembering all too vividly the footage of the 'dispute' which had broken out the night before over a spilt pint in one of the capital world's toughest swoop roosts, a type of bar populated exclusively by swoop bike gang members.

"Fine." Anakin replied. "Everyone enjoyed themselves."

"Who _started_ it, Anakin."

"A big aqualish." He replied. "Master Halcyon's robe brushed into his pint and rocked it slightly, at which point the son-of-a-sith-harlot accused him of knocking over his beer, shortly before Master Halcyon knocked it over with his head."

"And after that?" Padme asked, feeling disappointed at the cause of the sheer anarchy she remembered seeing.

"Half a dozen or so of them tried to take Neeja outside, and two of the other green Jedi, and Obi-Wan got involved. And after that, there were things flying across the room, and it gets hazy."

"Who organised it?" She asked, in a deceptively dangerous tone.

"Master Halcyon and Obi-Wan." He replied. "They've both been grounded by master Yoda, who of course didn't attend and most certainly did not nut a weequay during the brawl."

"I see." She said, smiling. "My weekend on Naboo with my handmaiden's and your padawan, along with half a dozen or so of my girlfriends did not result in a single brawl or a bar crawl." She said, smiling at the memory of Ahsoka inserting a swoop gang member's head into a automatic dishwasher while she tipped another into the nearest bin.

"So the footage of a teenage togruta washing the head of a swoopie is totally faked, then?" Anakin asked, smiling slightly. "Along with the footage someone bearing a remarkable resemblance to a senator tipping another into a recycler head first?"

"You can't prove anything." She replied, before bursting into a fit of laughter. "_Someone _thoughtit would be fun to get a drink in a bar with twenty swoops parked outside. Then that someone took exception to having her bum pinched before she reached the bar, and took action. Then everything kicked off."

"And I was more irresponsible than you?" Anakin asked, smiling. "Obi-Wan's booked a party table at El Cid for about twenty people, if you're interested in naming ten."

"I thought he was grounded?" She asked, puzzled.

"He is. From nine til five coruscant time. Five AM, that is.

"Of course I'm in." She said, smiling broadly. "After all, it's not every day you get married."

"I'll drink to that." Anakin said, kissing her again.

~0~

The news media was swarming all over the Senate tower when the wedding party arrived, the bride in one speeder, an ancient craft from naboo with the stylish grace of a bygone era of peace, and Anakin, driving his top of the range correlian super-speeder, which couldn't quite penetrate the sound barrier in second gear. The two arrived in convoy, before breaking apart and heading for different entrances, although both were 'main entrances' on the plans.

Inside, the tower was packed, with hundreds of additional senate boxes orbiting the chancellor's podium, along with the tightly packed tesslated tiers already present. The static pods nearest the action were full of padme's relatives, along with dozens of Jedi of all ages. Yoda had even noticed some interesting interactions taking place between various pairs of teenagers of all descriptions, some of whom were in Jedi robes, and even between one or two pairs where both were robed.

Anakin was first to arrive, taking up a only slightly nervous stance to Yoda's left, as the wizened Jedi master wondered once more about the wisdom of his preservation of the official ceremony for marrying a Jedi and a non-Jedi.

As padme's pod entered the hall through the west door, the sound system struck up a march by an ancient alderaanian composer known as Handel. The entire congregation stood up, before the senate pod began a sedate glide the length of the hall, accompanied the whole time by the chords of the bridal march.

When she stepped across from the pod to the speakers platform, the music cut off, and Yoda began the ceremony.

"Citizens of the galaxy, we are gathered here today to witness the will of the force, in its ultimate manifestation, that of love between two beings. One of these serves the will of the force as a Jedi, the other merely serves the galaxy as a representative of liberty. This is the greatest manifestation of love, as both are prepared and have shown willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good."

"Before I begin the ceremony, I must ask the following. Does anyone here know of any reason these two cannot be legally married? Speak now, or forever hold your silence." He commanded, before pausing for ten seconds. When nobody spoke, he continued the ceremony.

"Do you, Anakin Skywalker, take Padmè Naberrie as your wife in the force, to guard from evil, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, till you become one with the force."

"I do."

"Do you, Padme Naberrie, take Anakin Skywalker as your guardian in the force, to be guarded from the dark side, and to have and to hold, in sickness and in health for better or for worse, till you become one in the force?"

"I do." She replied, eyes shining.

"Then, in the presence of all these witnesses, and in the name of the force, I have the honour to declare you man and wife."

"Thank you, master." Anakin replied, before kissing padme tenderly until oxygen requirements necessitated separation.

"Blessed, I am." Yoda continued, after switching off the voice pickup. "To carry out this service I have been able."

Anakin smiled, remembering the long hours Yoda had put in memorizing both the 'illogical' word order and the ceremony itself. He had decided that subjecting the galaxy to the yodaese version of the ceremony would have led to flying projectiles and other problems.

A few hours later, the reception was well underway, and the hall of a thousand fountains was thronging with the great and the good of the republic, as well as a truly horrifying number of senators. Yoda was avoiding the party for the sake of his liver, but was flying a small drone with a spotlight around, embarrassing padawans caught in corners together.

He had repealed the marriage edict after studying history, and noting the list of 'lost' Jedi who had left the order for love, and comparing it to those who had fallen because of love. The length of the lists, or at least of one, had left him feeling like he was sitting on a stun baton. It was nonsense, he realised. Some idiot had caused more damage than the sith ever did. Bastilla Shan and Revan, two of the greatest luminaries of the order's history, had been driven out by it. Dozens of others had been cast out or had resigned over it.

In the centre of the room, the newlyweds held court, hands joined, as the galaxy celebrated their union, and the force resounded with joy. They were happy, and so, secretly, was Yoda.


End file.
